1960's Airline Acoustic Model 7078 (Harmony, Kay, Valco)

I acquired this guitar in the fall of 2008 and it has a market value of $36.37. This appears to be the 7078 Model which was based on the Harmony H942 Stella Grand Concert size flat top acoustic from about 1969. Red toned mahogany shadded back with natural finish top. The frets are in good shape and the neck is straight. As far as I can tell, this guitar is all original and complete. This guitar is in very good condition, just a little dirty and only minor corrosion on the metal parts.


Montgomery Wards brand of instruments were made by Kay, Harmony and Valco. Montgomery Wards began to use the Airline brand in about 1958-60. Before that date, Harmony made guitars sold through the Wards catalog had a generic logo without any brand marking. Some "Roy Smeck" signature models were sold as Harmony branded guitars (H58, H73), but most of "Roy Smeck" guitars were sold only through the Montgomery Wards catalog, wearing only the "Roy Smeck" logo. This includes many acoustics and electrics, among them the famous Stratotone Roy Smeck H7208.

Vintage 1970's Sears Harmony Acoustic Guitar Model 1294

I acquired this guitar in the fall of 2008 and it has a market value of $90.00. It's a near Mint 1970-1972 Sears Harmony Acoustic Model 1294. Red toned mahogany shadded top and back with sunburst finish. Frets are in good shape and the neck is straight. As far as I can tell, this guitar is all original and complete. This guitar has almost no scratches and only minor corrosion on the metal parts.







I always wanted to point this out on the later Sears Harmony or Silvertone Guitars. You'll see lots of people refer to these as "spacedot" or "atom" or even "atomic" because of the headstock logo. What I want to show you is it's actually just the letter S for Sears



and the letter R for Roebuck.



So you see, the spacedot or atomic is just a fancy graphic for Sears and Roebuck. This symbol was used on many of the acoustic and electric guitars sold at Sears starting around the early 1970's.

Vintage Estrada Classical Style Acoustic Guitar

I acquired this guitar in the fall of 2008 and it has a market value of $158.50. It's a vintage Mexican (Mexico) Estrada Classical style guitar. Looks to be a spruce or cyprus top with Braziallian Rosewood back and sides. Good frets, nice action, and no major structural damage that I can see. I didn't detect any fret buzz anywhere along the neck.

Dimensions: Lower Bout = 12 3/8 inches, Waist = 8 inches, Upper Bout = 9 inches, Thickness = 3 3/8 inches

Typical for a guitar of this vintage includes some dings in the front, scratches front and back and some minor corrosion on the metal parts.

1830's Jens Nielsen Gade Danish Parlor Guitar

I picked up this guitar in August of 2008 and it has a market value of $1,137.00. It's a parlor sized guitar built somewhere around 1830-1840 by Jens Nielsen Gade (1788-1854) in Denmark. There are 2 labels inside that indicate restoration work in 1854 and 1871. There is a pencil inscription inside that I believe reads JE Sorensen April 1870. There has been some more modern restoration work done with modern glues. As far as I can tell, this guitar is all original and complete except one bridge pin has been replaced. This is a beautifully built guitar that in the hands of a good restorer will be worth thousands. Dimensions of the guitar: Length is 36 inches, lower bout is upper bout is 11 1/4 inches, upper bout is 8 3/4 inches, and thickness is 3 1/4 inches.

Website with history of Danish guitar builders including Jens Nielsen Gade (see chapter 13). http://home10.inet.tele.dk/erlmol/bogg_uk.html

Website with pictures of a restored Gade guitar http://www.guitarbygger.dk/english/reparation.htm

This is an interesting book on Danish guitars. http://www.elderly.com/books/items/570-1.htm

I was told this guitar came out of an estate in New York and in fact there are storage tags for Rochester NY and one for an Amelia L Harris in Salisbury PA included in the guitar.